In sewing machines of various types, threads are applied and manipulated on opposite sides of a fabric to form one or more patterns of stitches. The proper formation of the stitches of each series requires the cooperative movement and precise timing of cooperating stitching elements. At the end of a stitching pattern, the thread is cut; and the relative position of the fabric and the stitching elements is changed to sew another stitching pattern. Referring to FIG. 5, layers of fabric 20 to be stitched are laid out on top of a needle plate 22 of a quilting machine. A needle 24 is connected to a needle drive and mounted above a presser foot 28 in a known manner. The presser foot 28 is a bowl-type presser foot which is mounted by means of a support 29 to other components of the quilting machine in a known manner. The needle 24 and thread 25 reciprocate vertically through a hole 26 in the bowl-type presser foot 28, through the layers of fabric 20 and then through a hole 30 of the needle plate 22, thereby forming stitching 32 within the fabric. After a pattern has been stitched, the thread 25 is cut by a known thread cutting device (not shown) normally located below the needle plate 22. Thereafter, the relative position between the layered fabric 20 and the needle 24, presser foot 28 and needle plate 22 is changed to position the needle 24 with respect to the start of another pattern to be stitched.
As the fabric 20 is moved with respect to the needle plate 28 as shown in phantom in FIG. 5, the thread tail 34 is pulled to a location between the layered fabric 20 and the presser foot 28. When that desired relative position between the layered fabric 20 and the presser foot 28 is achieved, the stitching cycle is again initiated, and as the needle 24 passes through the fabric 20, the thread tail 34 remains locked under the presser foot 28. When that stitching pattern is completed and the layered fabric again moves with respect to the presser foot, the thread tail 34 hangs from the upper surface 36 of the layered fabric 20 and requires manual trimming.
Therefore, there is a need to improve the process so that the manual trimming of thread tails is not required.